Egyptian Galleries: notes for teachers
Egyptian Galleries
Room 4 (Lower Floor)
Room 4 is the Egyptian sculpture gallery. It contains examples of monumental stone sculpture. The present arrangement of sculptures runs chronologically from south (Old Kingdom) to north (New Kingdom and later). The gallery contains a number of statues of pharaohs and ancient Egyptian deities. At the north end of the gallery are a number of stone sarcophagi – bases and lids and a giant scarab beetle. The Rosetta Stone is situated at the centre of the gallery.
Visit resources for this gallery are provided in ‘Symbols of the Pharaohs’.
Room 61 (Upper Floor)
This gallery contains the wall paintings from a New Kingdom tomb constructed for an ancient Egyptian government official called Nebamun. There are also examples of everyday objects which reflect objects shown in the paintings. The gallery has a screen showing a 3D walk-through reconstruction of the tomb itself (the exact location of which is unknown) with the paintings shown in their original positions within the tomb layout.
Visit resources for this gallery are provided in ‘Nebamun’.
Rooms 62 and 63 (Upper Floor)
These galleries contain objects connected with funerary practice in ancient Egypt including mummies, coffins and other tomb artefacts. The galleries also examine the use of modern technology for investigating mummies, with x-ray and CAT-scan images of some of the exhibits. In Gallery 62, case 2 is devoted to a range of wooden coffins illustrating the development of the coffin in ancient Egypt. There are also a number of animal mummies in case 29 and a good display of papyri in case 24. The mummy of Artemidorus in case 22 includes a CAT-scan image of his mummy inside the coffin. Gallery 63 contains further examples of mummies and coffins including the gold gilt coffin of Henutmehyt in case 9. In case 6 there is a display of canopic jars while case 11 contains wooden and pottery models placed in tombs. Cases 15 and 16 contain an extensive display of tomb shabti figures. There are a number of mummies on display in this gallery which demonstrate the use of modern technology to investigate mummies without unwrapping them.
Visit resources for this gallery are provided in ‘Mummification’ and ‘Life in ancient Egypt’.
Room 64 (Upper Floor)
This gallery covers the development of early Egypt from the Stone Age to 3000BC and contains objects which reflect the change from a hunter-gatherer society to the beginnings of dynastic rule. Objects on display include pottery, stone tools, stone palettes and basketwork. The gallery has an early natural sand dried mummy and examples of early burials in reed and wooden coffins.
Visit resources for this gallery are provided in ‘Early Egypt’.
Room 65 (Upper Floor)
This gallery examines the relationship of Egypt with other ancient cultures of north-east Africa, particularly Nubia which lay directly to the south of ancient Egypt. The objects on display date from prehistory through to the medieval period. Objects on display include pottery, wall paintings, jewellery, textile and basketwork. Many of the objects demonstrate the influence of Egyptian culture in the region.
Visit resources for this gallery are provided in ‘Nubia’.
Room 66 (Upper Floor)
This gallery contained objects from the Coptic Christian period of Egyptian history (4th – 8th century AD). Material includes textile, pottery, sculpture and architectural elements.
There are currently no visit resources for this gallery.
Resources for teachers
Copies of all the visit resource packs mentioned above can be downloaded free of charge directly from the British Museum Learning pages at
www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/primary/ancient_egypt
The pages also contain a range of classrooms resources for ancient Egypt.